More Than an Apartment: How 3Keys Onboards New Residents Into Permanent Supportive Housing
For many people experiencing chronic homelessness, receiving the keys to an apartment is a life-changing milestone. But at 3Keys, housing is just the beginning.
A safe, stable home creates the foundation for healing, growth, and independence, but lasting success requires more than four walls and a roof. That’s why every resident who moves into a 3Keys permanent supportive housing community is welcomed into a comprehensive support system designed to meet their unique needs and help them achieve their personal goals.
Starting with the Individual
From the moment a new resident arrives, they are connected with 3Keys’ on-site supportive services team, including case managers, peer support specialists, and property management staff. Together, they begin building a relationship centered on trust, respect, and collaboration.
Each resident participates in a comprehensive assessment that looks beyond immediate housing needs to understand their strengths, challenges, health, and goals. This information helps ensure every resident receives services tailored specifically to them – not a one-size-fits-all approach.
The assessment also incorporates relevant information from previous service providers when available, helping the 3Keys team understand each resident’s journey and avoid unnecessary repetition as they begin this new chapter.
Creating a Roadmap for Success
Following the assessment, residents work alongside their support services team and property manager to create an Individual Service Plan (ISP).
The ISP serves as a personalized roadmap that identifies the supports, resources, and activities needed to help each resident achieve the goals that matter most to them. Those goals may include improving physical or behavioral health, securing employment, strengthening financial stability, reconnecting with family, or simply building the skills and confidence needed to maintain stable housing.
Residents are active partners in creating and updating their plans, rather than having goals assigned to them.
Support That Continues After Move-In
Moving into permanent housing is an important first step, but meaningful change happens over time.
Residents have convenient access to a wide range of on-site behavioral health supportive services, including:
- Case management
- Peer support
- Employment assistance
- Financial literacy education
- Basic needs and food assistance
- Health screenings
- Medication monitoring
- Daily living skills support
- Connections to community resources
Residents meet with supportive services team members several times each month to review progress, celebrate achievements, and update their Individual Service Plan as their needs and goals evolve.
If someone begins experiencing setbacks or new challenges, the team quickly works alongside them to identify barriers, adjust their support plan, and reconnect them with resources that can help them regain stability.
This ongoing, client-centered approach empowers residents to build confidence, strengthen independence, and successfully transition to living in a community setting while preventing future episodes of homelessness.
Measuring Progress to Better Serve Residents
Providing quality supportive services also means continuously evaluating what works.
3Keys uses Georgia’s Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), known as ClientTrack, to securely document resident information and measure important outcomes such as housing stability, length of stay, income growth, and service utilization. The system also helps track health-related factors that may impact a resident’s progress, allowing support teams to provide more informed, coordinated care.
In addition, service providers utilize reporting systems through the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD) to monitor resident progress and program outcomes.
These tools allow 3Keys to evaluate trends, measure performance, and continuously improve services based on real-world results. The data also supports accountability to community partners and funders while ensuring residents receive the highest quality care possible.
Housing Plus Support Changes Lives
At 3Keys, permanent supportive housing is built on a simple but powerful belief: everyone deserves not only a place to live, but the opportunity to thrive.
By combining affordable housing with individualized, on-site supportive services, 3Keys helps residents build the skills, confidence, and stability needed to create lasting change. Every assessment, every conversation, and every personalized service plan is part of a larger commitment to helping people move beyond homelessness and toward a healthier, more independent future.